Full-scale measurements of wind-induced response of an 84 m high concrete control tower

This paper details the development of an instrumentation system for the measurement of the wind-induced dynamic response of structures. It was installed on an 84 m high concrete control tower of circular cross-section. Twelve months of data measured at the tower are presented and it is demonstrated that the accelerations experienced exceed serviceability criteria for human comfort. The effects of differing incident turbulence regimes are investigated and are found to have no significant effect on the dynamic response of the tower. The first and second mode natural frequencies were measured as 0.39 and 2.62 Hz, respectively. The structural damping of the tower was estimated to be 0.8 %. The mode shape of the tower was closely approximated by a power law with an exponent of 1.6.